A $1.3 trillion spending bill is stacked on a table in the White House in March 2018. Critics of Trump suggested that slashing taxes and, therefore, revenue was much of the point — that by increasing the deficit Trump could then argue about the need for cutting government spending. As such, Vought is in charge of Trump’s annual budget, which, if it mirrors previous years, will propose lots of cuts to government programs. (Congressional Budget Office) (Philip Bump/(Congressional Budget Office))Mandatory spending is increasing in part because the United States is getting older. "Democrats in Congress," he writes, "held defense spending increases hostage for increases in domestic spending.

Source: Washington Post February 25, 2019 20:52 UTC